Food and wine are boundary-traversing languages that shape our understanding of and relationship with the world. In the world of culinary diplomacy, France is a superpower, and exercises outsized influence, and in this panel, we will look at how France has played and continues to play an important role in educating, training and quality assurance, and how other countries engage around food, sometimes contentiously.
Like other forms of cultural diplomacy, culinary diplomacy requires skill and knowledge of chefs and food experts who communicate their own country’s history and culture through gastronomy. However, it is also at the level of “ordinary” people engaging around the food and drink that they love, and the personal vulnerability that exists in sharing their own “soul food”.
Food and drink are conduits that connect people and societies in ways conventional diplomacy between countries cannot. Whether as an ordinary tourist, or as a leader of a country, individuals taste and digest, both literally and metaphorically, the culture, history, and politics of other countries.
In this panel, three different professionals from three different nationalities, but with a shared love and professional interest in French cuisine and wine, talk about their relationship with food and wine, in this exciting international, intercultural and interdisciplinary space.
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